


Will we ever say the words we're feeling

by EponineTheStrange (gallifreyandglowclouds)



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-07
Updated: 2013-06-07
Packaged: 2017-12-14 04:51:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/832949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyandglowclouds/pseuds/EponineTheStrange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Karen gets pregnant with someone else's baby, but the someone else is soon out of the picture. Matt steps in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will we ever say the words we're feeling

When she sees those two pink lines on her pregnancy test, she cries, and cries hard. 

 

There’s only one person who could possibly be the father of the child she now carries, and it’s not that Christopher isn’t lovely, he really is, but they’ve been on all of four dates and she was probably going to make the next one her last. One night of passion does not necessarily equal a successful relationship.

 

True to form, he breaks up with her when she tells him the next day. She calls her mother, who tells her to come home, so she books a ticket from Los Angeles to London, and for some weird reason feels a bit of nostalgia for the days when marrying the mother of your child was seen as an obligation, because she really has no idea what’s coming next for her career or life in general.

 

The first thing she does when she arrives at her parents’ house is go and throw up, because hooray for morning sickness. Then, she calls Matt. 

  

“Hey,” he says when he picks up the phone, and he sounds like he just woke up.”How are you?” 

 

“Pregnant,” Karen says, “but otherwise pretty good.” 

 

That gets him going, and she can hear the sheets rustling as he sits up suddenly. “You serious? Who’s the father?” 

 

“A guy I met in LA,” Karen says. “We got carried away, I guess, and one thing led to another…” 

 

“Yeah,” Matt says, “you don’t have to go in to it if you don’t feel like it. Are you up in Inverness?”

 

“Yeah,” Karen says. “My parents are handling things pretty well, other than the fact that my dad is still a bit shocked because his little girl is doing grown-up things.” 

 

“I’m coming up to see you this weekend,” Matt says, and she doesn’t try to protest because he is headstrong, and she’s at least got something to look forward to other than visiting the doctor and thinking about where she’s going to live with the baby. (Leeds is looking promising, based on house prices, and her mom promises to come and stay for a while after the baby is born.) 

 

She sees her GP and gets referred to an OB/GYN, who she sees before going to pick up Matt. 

 

He shows up at the train station with a Waterstones bag. “Baby books. I had a little time off from filming yesterday.”  

 

She laughs, and drives him back to her house.

 

He’s generally a fairly helpful person, because he is incredibly sweet to her mom and helps with cooking and washing up, and also sits with her and aids her in narrowing down the houses that she’s thinking of buying to three that she can go down and see in Leeds the next week. When he goes, she takes the train with him to Leeds, and though he insists that he can move filming around, she gently refuses, and goes to see the houses by herself. 

 

* * *

 

 

Three months in, she’s showing a little bit, and her mom helps her move in to her house she chooses in Leeds. Her stuff from LA had arrived a few weeks prior, and it’s a bit chaotic, but then Matt appears to help carry things upstairs and move boxes.

 

 

He doesn’t hurt himself, which Karen sees as a a relief, because according to Jenna, he’s not become less clumsy since Karen left  _Doctor Who_. 

 

 

Once everything’s moved in, Karen’s mom leaves, but Matt stays, and they watch terrible movies and eat home-cooked Indian food (she figures now that she’s got a baby on the way, she really ought to stay away from the takeout). 

 

 

“I think the room beside mine’s going to be the baby’s room,” Karen says, rubbing her belly gently. “It’ll make all of those middle of the night wake-ups easier.” 

 

 

“Paint it yellow,” he says. “I like yellow. My old room at home is yellow.” 

 

 

“It’s already yellow,” she says. “Actually, it’s kind of beige. So I guess I’ll need to paint it.” 

 

 

“We can do that on my next weekend off. We can go look for baby furniture and stuff as well, if you’re feeling up to it.” 

 

 

“We?” Karen says. “I’m impressed that you’re giving up your free time to help me out. It’s like you love little Fetus already.” 

 

 

“You named your child Fetus?” 

 

 

She shrugs. “I’ve seen it on an ultrasound, but I’m choosing not to find out the gender until it’s out. So for now, it’s Fetus.” 

 

 

“Well,” Matt whispers in Karen’s ear, “I’m sure Fetus will be wonderful, though I am quite enamoured with his or her mother.” He presses a gentle kiss above her ear. 

 

 

Karen blushes. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

On Matt’s weekends off in the coming few months, they manage to get the  baby’s room painted, a crib, dresser, baby clothes, and pram bought, and Matt even (specifically - he doesn’t let her pay) gets some pregnancy clothes for Karen. She’s amazed the paparazzi haven’t caught them yet.

 

 

She’s getting rounder and bigger, and she has much less energy than she did previously. Well wishes are pouring in from all over, with cards and stuffed animals that pile up in the baby’s room. She’s starting to stress over other things now, like how long she can really not work before having to leave her baby with a nanny. 

 

 

Matt is a godsend - she swears that he’s getting more time off, because he’s at her house more and more, and he’s leaving so much of his stuff with her in Leeds that they practically live together. He rubs her feet when they ache without complaint, helps her with cooking and makes sure she has lots of leftovers for when he goes back down to Cardiff. 

 

So, they’re pretty much married in all senses but the legal one. 

 

 

The next time he comes to her house, he kisses her belly gently, and then kisses her forehead. 

 

 

“You could kiss me on the lips, you know,” she says after he does that. 

 

 

So he does, and maybe it’s the hormones, but it’s the most amazing thing that has happened to her in a long, long time. 

 

 

“When are you going to give up your apartment in London?” Karen asks, over dinner later that day. 

 

 

“Why would I do that?” 

 

 

“Because at this point, so much of your stuff is here that it would be easier to just live here instead of moving it all back.” 

 

 

He sighs. “I agree. Are you okay with that?” 

 

 

“Yeah, I am one hundred percent on board with that.” She smiles. “Because I’ve sort of had a ridiculous crush on you since we worked together, and now we’re basically having a kid.” 

 

 

“Well good,” Matt says, “because I have also had a ridiculous crush on you for a long time, and I am very excited for hypothetical Gillan baby.” 

 

When he spoons up against her that night, he whispers to her, “I love you, Kaz.” 

 

 

“I love you too, Matt,” she whispers back.

 

 

The next weekend he drives from London to Leeds with the rest of his stuff, and formally moves in with her. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Of course, because she is incredibly lucky, she’s all alone in her house when she starts going in to labour. She calls Matt, then her mother, then grabs her bag and calls a taxi to take her to the hospital. 

 

 

Her parents get there first, and then Matt comes running in, still in his costume, and she greets him with a bloodcurdling scream as another contraction hits her. 

 

 

He holds her hand and wipes her forehead with a damp cloth through the whole thing, whispering encouragements in her ear. He doesn’t leave her side, even though she’s in labour for nearly ten hours before the obstetrician tells her that she’s ready to push. 

 

 

It’s a girl, a beautiful little girl, with her fathers’ blue eyes and with red hair (of course). She’s absolutely exhausted, because  _childbirth,_ but she desperately wants to stay awake long enough to hold her little girl. 

 

 

Finally, Fetus (who can’t really be named Fetus any more) is brought back to Karen and placed in her arms, and she says, “Hi little girl.” 

 

 

Matt knelt down by her, and waved to the baby. “Can’t call her Fetus anymore, Kaz. What’s she going to be called?” 

 

 

“Sarah Louise Gillan,” Karen says. “Sarah, meet your daddy.” She turns her towards Matt.  

 

 

Matt looks at her quizzically, and then Karen continues, “You’ve been here for me, for us, so much over these past nine months. So you’re Sarah’s father.” 

 

 

Matt smiles and nods, and gently kisses the baby on the forehead. “It’s lovely to meet you, Sarah.” 

 

 

Maybe some will say that their situation isn’t optimal, and, Karen realised, it certainly wasn’t conventional. But in that little hospital room, she could sense that there was enough love to hold everything together for a long while, and she could live with that. 


End file.
